August 10, 2009

Like every city, Chicago faces serious financial challenges resulting from the nation’s economic recession. Mayor Richard M. Daley renewed his own challenge to each city manager – to take a fresh approach to how departments allocate resources and provide services to residents in this difficult economic environment.

The Chicago Police Department – the city’s largest department – took the mayor’s challenge seriously. While there were discussions in the federal government about potential funding for police officers through the stimulus program, Superintendent Jody P. Weis began a review of police operations and administrative functions to determine if there was a way to maximize police manpower without using additional resources. This resulted in the reassignment of 150 Chicago Police officers from administrative duties back to neighborhood police efforts – an outcome that will provide great benefit to Chicago residents and enhance public safety throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Earlier this year, the Chicago Police Department, in collaboration with management consultants A.T. Kearney and the Civic Consulting Alliance, worked to assess police operations and realize improved efficiencies. The Department opened their districts to the outside consultants and sought counsel to improve their administrative practices. A leadership team comprised of department command staff members, including the Superintendent, met with consultants to untangle complicated administrative procedures and learn how Chicago Police might work smarter and more efficiently.

In the course of just four months, A.T. Kearney interviewed police personnel assigned to administrative roles in the districts and learned about their clerical functions. Over the years, each new program, service, and initiative introduced by the Department accumulated additional staff to coordinate activities. An assessment of the overall tasks occurring in patrol administration was distilled to 16 activities common in each of the 25 police districts. Scrutiny of these processes revealed inefficiencies where procedures were outdated, duplicitous, and in some instances, needlessly convoluted.

Consultants learned that police officers continued to perform administrative tasks in instances where computerized applications were accomplishing the same work. In other cases, habit rather than necessity led police officers to prepare reports that were unnecessary at the time it was generated. Paperwork often traveled up an extensive chain-of-command, demanding clerical attention of officers. The consultants’ feedback provided invaluable understanding of how administrative processes could be streamlined and officers redeployed to better serve the department’s mission.

One key finding of the advisors’ investigation was that staff were often limited to topical tasks when personnel could instead hone multiple abilities through cross-training. Officers who stayed focused on one set of tasks were underutilized and undervalued. The opportunity to challenge officers with new assignments was an unexpected and profitable result of the investigation.

The partnership with consultants at A.T. Kearney and Civic Consulting Alliance was a sensitive endeavor for the Chicago Police Department, but produced results that will greatly benefit Chicago residents. The reassignment of 150 Chicago Police officers from administration to patrol has better served the Chicago Police Department’s mission to serve and protect residents and visitors. While there is no exact way to measure the benefits of increased interactions between residents and police, the results of this collaboration may be possible for other cities and agencies similarly seeking a more effective use of resources.